1. Field of the Invention
The system of the present invention relates to recovery of oil spills. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for collecting oil spills upon a body of water, transporting the collected oil to a water, oil seperator balloon, subsequently pumping the seperated oil into a barge or the like vehicle for transporting away from the cite.
2. General Background of the Invention
The drilling and processing of hydrocarbons, particularly crude oil, is crucial in the maintenance of modern day society. A great deal of the oil that is drilled, and collected for refining is obtained from the earth line beneath great bodies of water such as and for example, the Gulf of Mexico. However, one of the most troublesome and difficult problems that is encountered in offshore drilling and production, is the ever-looming possibility of an oil spill. When this occurs, either through a blow-out or a rupture in the gas line, of an oil transport line, or some other catastrophic occurance on an oil rig, the crude oil spills out onto the surface of the water, and currents may carry it for literally thousands of miles where it may be ultimately washed up upon a beach ruining the use of the beach and endangering vast species of wildlife.
Therefore, there have been numerous efforts by mankind to devise methods and systems for either preventing oil spills, which have been for the most part unsuccessful, or for containing and collecting the oil spilled from an oil spill, which have met with some success. However, for the most part, the successes have been limited due to the fact that often times the materials and components of the system must be transported from land onto the cite of the rig, set up into place, and begin functioning sometimes many hours after the spill has occurred or been detected.
Several patents have issued which are pertinent to the present invention, the most important being as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,182 isseued to Jenkins entitled "Oil Spill Recovery Method And Apparatus", teaches the use of a method apparatus for recovering oil so that the surface of a body of water by forming a vortex and water mass for attracting only the oily film substance with the vortex flowed to a quiescent zone to enable seperation of the oily film substance in the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,951 issued to Mourlon, entitled "Apparatus For Removing A Substance Floating As A Layer On The Surface Of A Body Of Water", discloses an apparatus for removing an immiscible substance such as oil over-floating the body of water as a layer, the apparatus which generally comprises a means for locally whirling the liquid in the vincinity of the surface to generate a whirlpool into which the immiscible over-floating substance is centripetally drawn and a second means for extracting the oil from the depression accumulating, as it is circulated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,086 issued to Oberg, entitled "Apparatus For Recovering Oil Or The Like Floating On A Liquid Surface Such As Water", discloses a container like structure floating on the water with a closable inlet for water and oil located in the water surface level. In the bottom of the container there is provided a downwardly projecting tube ending into the water and pumping water in and out of the structure. When the water is being pumped out, the oil is collected in the container space and the subsequent pumping in of the water the oil is pressed out through the outlet pipe for collecting in a vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,087, issued to Gordon, entitled "Foating Surface Liquids Retrieval System", discloses a floating retriever for retrieving oil wherein there is included a central liquid collection chamber with a vacuum or suction pick-up to a mother vessel as the large circular flow intake ports with V shape lateral screws to bring the retrieved liquid to the collection chamber drawing the oil to the intake ports.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,013, issued to Cockman, entitled "Liquid Separator And Purification System", teaches the use of a system floated upon a body of water having a liquid collection section for collecting of water to a floating purification unit. That unit including at least one aeration tower having a dispersing nozzle. The liquid is collected on the towers and trickled down to move the filter beds which allow the water to pass through and back into the body of water. The rotating belts are cleaned at one end to remove the collective pollutants into a collection container.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,079, issued to Kirk, entitled "Method And Apparatus For Collecting A Floating Liquid", teaches the use of an apparatus for collecting an oil spill under a sheet with weighted periphery. The sheet is deployed by spreading it horizontally over the liquid surface confining it and centrally concentrating the liquid. The sheet retains the liquid for subsequent pumping into a vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,850, issued to Cessou, entitled "Antipollution Device For Recovering Fluids Lighter Than Water Escaping From An Underwater Source", comprises a collector element which caps the source of escaping fluids. At least the lower part of the collected element is foldable and its wall comprises a permeable lower portion to facilitate positioning of the element over the source of polluting fluid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,482, issued to Shyu, entitled "System For Collecting Oil", relates to an apparatus for collecting oil floating on a sea surface, having a collecting panel and tube with the force of waves pushing oil mixed with water and dirt causing the oil to flow into the panel and tube automatically. The tube would lead the oil to a container under sea level wherein the water and oil can be separated and filtered and the pure oil is then pumped to a nearby ship for storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,662, issued to Ortiz, entitled "Control of Oil Pollution At Sea, Apparatus And Method", relates to an apparatus for containing massive oil spills from tankers, off shore wells or small spills by confining the oil right at a spill source before it becomes a slick, having a marine pollution control system including a hugh plastic bag for which oil is pumped from the bag to a receiving facility. The system is a preventive and contingency constituting a complete, self-contained, light and mobile system.